The meaning of activity and participation in everyday life when living with hand osteoarthritis

The aim of this paper is, first, to advance the understanding of participation and its relationship to activity; second, to add to discussions or understandings of the ICF by contributing an empirically derived understanding of participation and its relationship to activity connected to the conduct of everyday life in people with hand osteoarthritis (hand OA).

Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 31 men and women living with hand OA because existing research on this group and the challenges they encounter in their everyday life is sparse. The analytical process was inspired by Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis and informed by critical psychology and social practice theory as interpretive frameworks.

Our empirical findings indicate that persons with hand OA experience participation restrictions in their everyday lives and activity limitations as aspects of participation. This indicates that activity and participation are experienced as interrelated across social contexts.

Participation in everyday life seems complex: what to participate in, how to participate and with whom seem of importance for subjective meaning-making. Implications are discussed in relation to methodology, the empirical findings, and clinical practice.